# It's time to officially Pit Joe Paterno and the Penn State football program. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167 "2011-11-07T14:23:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 110
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2181 "2012-01-22T01:58:19Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > CBS Cleveland reports that Paterno taken off of respirator and near death It’s being reported that he has died. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2182 "2012-01-22T02:15:22Z")
And let the canonization begin. (Don’t get me wrong – I do offer my condolences to his family. But I won’t pretend to mourn the guy, or change my opinion of him one bit) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2183 "2012-01-22T02:27:45Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It’s being reported that he has died. [Family says he hasn’t.](http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/01/21/former-penn-state-coach-joe-paterno-reportedly-near-death/) > [@](#): > > A Paterno family spokesman says the former Penn State football coach has not passed away despite multiple reports indicating that Joe Paterno died from lung cancer Saturday night. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2184 "2012-01-22T02:28:43Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > It’s being reported that he has died. [Not quite yet](https://plus.google.com/108901876667002638432/posts/ERtnRhDEhp9). Keep an eye on the [Celebrity Death Pool thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14692709#post14692709) to know when he’s really dead. Personally, from where I sit, this all seems a bit conveniently timed. I know the guy’s 85 and has cancer, but man that cancer moved quick! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2185 "2012-01-22T02:34:24Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Keep an eye on the [Celebrity Death Pool thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14692709#post14692709) to know when he’s really dead. 😃 > [@](#): > > I know the guy’s 85 and has cancer, but man that cancer moved quick! My grandfather died (at 84) within a month of his diagnosis of colon cancer. Sometimes it happens. And, as I alluded to in the Cafe Society thread, coaching football was Paterno’s reason for life. Old ill people who see no reason to hang on tend to die. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2186 "2012-01-22T03:20:14Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > 😃 > My grandfather died (at 84) within a month of his diagnosis of colon cancer. Sometimes it happens. > > And, as I alluded to in the Cafe Society thread, coaching football was Paterno’s reason for life. Old ill people who see no reason to hang on tend to die. Yes, there seems to be something to that. I can’t cite this but I have heard that the death rate among people that have recently lost their lifelong partner defies the statistics. I’ve personally seen this. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2187 "2012-01-22T03:40:32Z")
Will pre-pubescent boys be able to rape his corpse? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2188 "2012-01-22T05:44:24Z")
Well, I guess FoieGrasAin’tNice… ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2189 "2012-01-22T08:08:01Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > As if it still needed saying, there is no credibility whatever to the claims **SA** and **F-P** are making here. But only they still refuse to grasp that. I hadn’t checked this thread for a number of weeks because I got sick of all the rationalizing those two have been doing from the beginning. Imagine my amazement when I see it has moved to the top of the forum, is over 2100 posts and there they still are, going strong, trying to hand wave the entire thing away. What a couple of pathetic slimeballs. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Will pre-pubescent boys be able to rape his corpse? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2190 "2012-01-22T08:44:30Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > I hadn’t checked this thread for a number of weeks because I got sick of all the rationalizing those two have been doing from the beginning. Imagine my amazement when I see it has moved to the top of the forum, is over 2100 posts and there they still are, going strong… Of course we’re still going strong!. The facts thus far haven’t changed, and the facts are that the blame-Paterno crowd has nothing to support its allegations of pedophile-enabling or coverup by Paterno, nor does the fact that he notified the authorities as he should rather than calling the police rise to a career-ending moral failing. Had the offense been occuring at the time he was told it was happening, then certainly police notification would have been called for, as the police could have stopped the attack if one was actually underway, questioned Sandusky and the boy, and arrested Sandusky if called for. Instead, he was notified the next day and in vague terms which called into question the veracity of what MCQueary thought he saw. Conclusion? Patrrno was the innocent victim of the hysterical get-the-guy-at-the-top-even-if-we-have-to-invent-his-offenses crowd. > [@Kolac of Twilo](#): > > …trying to hand wave the entire thing away. We’ve hardly been handwaving anything away. Both of us have stated our positions and rebuttals and the reasons for them clearly and unequivocally while relying on the facts rather than our imaginations in order to make our case…a practice, btw, which most certainly may not be said of our opponents. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2191 "2012-01-22T09:01:06Z")
My speculation on the thought processes of Joe Paterno, a man I cheerfully admit I’d never heard of before a month ago: “Look, I just want to run a football program, I’m an old man, I want to be left alone, I don’t wanna think about stuff like what you’re telling me, I just want to run a football program, I’m an old man, leave me alone, I did what I was supposed to, I don’t know how to deal with stuff like that, I’m an old man, I want to be left alone, I just want to run a football program, I don’t know why everybody’s giving me such grief about it, I did nothing wrong, I’m an old man, I just want to run a football program, I want to be left alone…” ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2192 "2012-01-22T09:18:56Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > …nor does the fact that he notified the authorities as he should rather than calling the police rise to a career-ending moral failing. Funny, I thought the police _were_ the authorities. It was a criminal matter where the victim was a third party, so the university has no excuse for trying to insert themselves into the chain of command. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2193 "2012-01-22T09:27:32Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Of course we’re still going strong! Of course you are you piece of filth. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2194 "2012-01-22T09:58:31Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > My speculation on the thought processes of Joe Paterno, a man I cheerfully admit I’d never heard of before a month ago: > > “Look, I just want to run a football program, I’m an old man, I want to be left alone, I don’t wanna think about stuff like what you’re telling me, I just want to run a football program, I’m an old man, leave me alone, I did what I was supposed to, I don’t know how to deal with stuff like that, I’m an old man, I want to be left alone, I just want to run a football program, I don’t know why everybody’s giving me such grief about it, I did nothing wrong, I’m an old man, I just want to run a football program, I want to be left alone…” Well, to be honest he was ten years younger ten years ago, when all this stuff he just got fired for allegedly took place. 😉 > [@Grumman](#): > > Funny, I thought the police were the authorities. It was a criminal matter where the victim was a third party, so the university has no excuse for trying to insert themselves into the chain of command. You haven’t read much of the thread, have you? The law states that suspected criminal activity on campus shall be reported to university administration officials, which in this case includes the head of Penn State’s duly accredited 256 member campus police department. University officials are then charged with contacting the municipal police. Paterno did what he was supposed to do, and he did so immediately and in full. The only reason that Paterno got singled out for blame is because a Pennsylvania state police captain, apparently unaware of the law and in what was undoubtedly a CYA response intended to get the police off the hook, hastily blamed Joe Paterno for not reporting McQueary’s allegation to the local police, and this was all the ignorant Nancy Grace crowd of hysterical witch-burning, lynch-mobbing would-be vigilanties needed to set up a hue and cry for Paterno’s head. > [@Kolack of Twilo](#): > > Of course you are a piece of filth. Ah, and here we have an excellent example of the factual, logical argument typically brought to bear by the anti-Paterno crowd. Bereft of factual argumentation, they appear to think childish name-calling sufficient to do the trick. They are wrong of course, but they have nothing else so that’s what they fall back on. It’s pretty funny, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2195 "2012-01-22T10:04:43Z")
To be fair to Paterno, **Starving Artist** ’s characterization of Paterno as a monster is not based on facts. My guess is he isn’t half as horrible as **SA** claims. Sandusky, McQueary, and the school administrators were not some distant concepts to Paterno. Sandusky was always around the team. He was right there. Paterno and his players saw him all the time, and they supported his Second Mile program at the same time that Sandusky trolled Second Mile camps on the Penn State campus for child victims. Some players have said they feel betrayed. If Paterno saw nothing wrong with this, then he would be a monster. If he thought “hey, not my problem” while Sandusky used the Paterno brand to ensnare and abuse children, he would be a monster. If he saw nothing wrong with supporting Sandusky’s use of Penn State to take charge of children, nothing wrong with Sandusky running overnight camps for little kids (seriously?) which he advertised by touting his Penn State connections, nothing wrong with Sandusky bringing kids to practice… then he would be a monster. If the reason he didn’t speak to anyone involved to find out what was going on, even though everyone was right there, is that he thought “not my problem”, then he’s truly horrible. But we only have **SA** ’s word for that. It is possible that Paterno does have a conscience, and realizes he made the wrong choice. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2196 "2012-01-22T10:18:04Z")
You have zero evidence that Paterno knew anything other than that McQueary’s allegations appeared to have been investigated and found meritless. Of course if you actually do have evidence to show that Paterno knew Sandusky was sexually abusing kids and using Second Mile to troll for victims, then please, post it by all means. You’ll be the first of the many posters making similar allegations to do so. But then of course we’ll all have to call you names and insist you be fired from your job for not notifying Penn State’s local police…an assumption which appears accurate in light of your having not trumpeted it to the thread already. _sigh_ So many dishonest dillweeds, so little time. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2197 "2012-01-22T10:22:39Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > If the reason **he didn’t speak to anyone involved to find out what was going on** , even though everyone was right there, is that he thought “not my problem”, then he’s truly horrible. Yeah, I know. Nattering Nabobs, Nancy Grace, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2198 "2012-01-22T10:22:48Z")
_sigh_ So many delusional pieces of filth, so little time. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2199 "2012-01-22T13:16:19Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > My grandfather died (at 84) within a month of his diagnosis of colon cancer. Sometimes it happens. > > And, as I alluded to in the Cafe Society thread, coaching football was Paterno’s reason for life. Old ill people who see no reason to hang on tend to die. True. Your body’s defenses do tend to break down over time and the stress level he’s been under for the last few months doesn’t help matters. Also we have no idea how long he’s had cancer. He may have known for quite a while. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Will pre-pubescent boys be able to rape his corpse? 😃 This handbasket seems to be descending rapidly and it’s getting warmer. Oh well, at least I’m in good company. ---
**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167/2200 "2012-01-22T13:45:07Z")
Well, I hope JoePa gets a small, simple funeral and maybe a one-paragraph blurb in the Obituaries. You know, the bare minimum, since that seems to be what he’s all about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=109) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-to-officially-pit-joe-paterno-and-the-penn-state-football-program/602167.md?page=111)